He currently works on sound synthesis based on physical models of musical instruments, with a particular focus on mainstream numerical simulation techniques, such as, e.g., finite difference methods. Special topics of interest include: Hamiltonian and symplectic methods, distributed nonlinear systems such as strings and plates, estimates of computational complexity, multichannel sound synthesis, and hardware and software realizations.

A sideline is joint work with composers of electroacoustic music. Other interests include virtual analog effect modelling and artificial reverberation design, modelling of electromechanical instruments, shock wave propagation in tubes, numerical absorbing boundaries in acoustics applications, and large-scale audio rendering using graphics processing units (GPUs) in conjunction with the Edinburgh Parallel Computing Centre.

Many of the research directions described above now form part of an ERC-funded project, NESS, running jointly with theEdinburgh Parallel Computing Centre over the period 2012-2017. See the project website for more information:

J. Kemp, S. Bilbao, J. McMaster, and R. Smith. Wave separation in the trumpet under playing conditions and comparison with time domain finite difference simulation. Journal of the Acoustical Society of America, 2013.

C. Camier, K. Arcas, and S. Bilbao. Nonlinear vibrations of impacted rectangular plates. Comparison between numerical simulation and experiments. Acoustics 08: Joint Meeting of the Acoustical Society of America, the European Acoustics Association, and the Société Française d’Acoustique, Paris, July, 2008. In Journal of the Acoustical Society of America, 123(5):3665.

C. Camier, C. Touze, O. Thomas and S. Bilbao. Numerical study of the transition to chaos in nonlinear forced vibrations of plates. Acoustics 08: Joint Meeting of the the Acoustical Society of America, the European Acoustics Association, and the Société Française d’Acoustique, Paris, July, 2008. In Journal of the Acoustical Society of America, 123(5):3171.

K. Arcas, S. Bilbao, and Antoine Chaigne. Sound synthesis of circular plates by finite differences. Acoustics 08: Joint Meeting of the the Acoustical Society of America, the European Acoustics Association, and the Société Française d’Acoustique, Paris, July, 2008. In Journal of the Acoustical Society of America, 123(5):3522.